The county’s plans for the Trinity Site Redevelopment Project took a step forward Friday as crews from Coronado Wrecking began demolishing the two buildings and a concrete pad located on the Tract A-11 Parcel behind the Merrick Building at 120 and 180 6th Street.

The two buildings total 30,350 square feet. Demolition should be completed by Oct. 15.

According to the county website, the approved fiscal ’09 Capital Improvement Project Budget includes an allocation of $9,686,717 for the Trinity Site demolition, which includes funding for the waste characterization, abatement and demolition associated with Tract A-11.

Waste characterization and abatement for A-11 is ongoing and is estimated to cost $351,764 plus applicable gross receipts tax ($24,843), for a total of $367,607. The largest cost associated with the abatement is $225,000 for the asbestos contaminants identified in the roof.

The A-11 demolition bid cost is $249,590, plus applicable gross receipts tax ($17,627), plus a 15 percent contingency ($40,083) for a total demolition project budget of $307,300. Total cost for abatement and demolition of A-11 is $683,907.

The land on which the Trinity Project will be developed is owned by the county and has housed a large area of county buildings, Los Alamos Public Schools buildings, and the municipal annex and the schools’ administration building.

The buildings were constructed by the government in the 1950s and were eventually turned over to the county and schools. The county is now building new facilities at the airport basin site and once that project is complete, they will move the offices on Trinity Drive to the new site near the airport.

Once the offices are moved, demolition of the existing county and school buildings will begin in preparation for the construction of Trinity Place, being handled by the Boyer Company.

The Trinity Place Revitalization Project will include large retail spaces, as well as offices and residential areas.

“This has been somewhat controversial for quite a while,” Council Vice Chair Robert Gibson said.

“There have been concerns about whether shopping is desired by the community or whether is would work here and whether there’s enough business for it. Market surveys have shown the number of people that go off the hill to shop indicate that there is a desire for that. There’s a need we’d like to fill.”

Gibson said the first major part of the project would be for Boyer to secure an anchor retail store which is expected to be a grocery/department type of store, however, an anchor tenant has not been selected yet and Boyer is working on getting one secured.

According the county website, final negotiations with Boyer are wrapping up in the coming weeks and will culminate with an introduction of an ordinance adopting the agreements at a council meeting in October, with actual adoption shortly thereafter.

The council plans to have a joint meeting with the school board as part of the public hearing process. The school board expressed their desire to the council to become a tenant at the Airport Basin site in May 2007 and negotiations between the county and the school district were completed in November 2007.